Equipping the Gamecocks, right down to the last ‘A’

“It’s like a game of Tetris,” Ryan Fischer says, “but it’ll fit.”

South Carolina’s assistant director of equipment operations looked into the back of an empty 18-wheeler parked outside Williams-Brice Stadium. A procession of trunks formed a line 100 yards long from the truck’s hydraulic lift to the Gamecocks’ locker room.

There wasn’t any worry or concern. After this many times, it’s down to a science.

“It only takes about two hours to load it,” Fischer said. “Then again, we start preparing for it on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

The Gamecocks’ equipment gurus – Fischer, director Chris Matlock and 17 student-managers who each work 25-30 hours per week while attending class – are in charge of making sure every player (75 for Thursday’s season-opener), coach and support staff member has anything they could possibly need for every road game.

Lord forbid somebody breaks a helmet strap and there’s not a replacement, or one can’t be found.

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It’s like the long snapper. Nobody notices until there’s a mistake.

Fischer had his moment. His first game as a full-time staffer was two years ago, a home game also against North Carolina. With anything he could need two minutes from the field, Fischer watched in horror as Elliott Fry walked out with the last “A” missing from the “Carolina” on his jersey.

“What a nightmare,” Fischer said. “That’s not going to happen again.”

It was the one thing he couldn’t fix. Need a mouthpiece, glove, wristband or helmet? No problem, here you go. But he couldn’t hold up the game to sew the missing “A” on Fry’s shirt.

Every last letter has been inspected for every game since. Fischer, Matlock and their crew are in charge of making sure everybody is covered in every eventuality.

Extra helmets, jerseys, pants, shoes. All of the accoutrements – eyeblack, towels, skull wraps -- for gameday splendor. The kicking net, white boards for pre-game and halftime, headsets – and of course an extra visor or two.

“I was a die-hard fan and wanted to be around the program,” student-manager Spencer Plowden, a senior in sport and entertainment management, said while stuffing name tags into travel bags. “I emailed and called Matlock for years and I was sitting in class and saw this e-mail come up on my computer. It was from Matlock, saying, ‘If you can come in, we’d love to have you.’

“I closed my laptop and left class. Didn’t go to another class the rest of the day.”

Student-managers go on road trips, receive partial scholarships and of course help the team get ready for games. Not just putting out clothes, either – Plowden started by shagging balls from kickers during practice and now helps with the offensive line.

The job doesn’t end. One of the student-managers was adding a Palmetto tree above each helmet’s facemask Monday while Fischer was rolling trunks to the truck. Backup quarterback Perry Orth walked in requesting a new pair of cleats; Fischer found some almost immediately.

“Carolina’s the only place I’ve been, ever since undergrad,” said Fischer, who also helped with the Gamecocks’ national champion baseball teams. “I’ve loved every second of it.”

Even when it comes to the occasional surprise.

There’s a routine Fischer follows when Steve Spurrier decides what uniform he wants to wear that week. Spurrier calls Matlock, Matlock calls Fischer, usually on the Tuesday or Wednesday before, and Fischer starts preparing.

That changed last year for the Tennessee game. All-black uniforms were requested.

“We didn’t have the black uniforms in the new style. Our first impulse was, ‘Sorry coach, we don’t have them,’ ” Fischer said. “Ten minutes later, we thought, ‘You know, we could probably make this happen.’”

The crew started cutting old nameplates and numbers off new jerseys and stitching them on old jerseys. Miraculously, they pulled it off.

“That was a great-looking uniform,” Fischer said. “Too bad we lost.”

It’s all part of the trade. The lift to the truck malfunctioned one day; Fischer opened the hydraulic box and operated it by hand. A 90-minute drive to Charlotte in an 18-wheeler is a piece of cake; 30-hour round-trip jaunts to Missouri and Texas A&M this year aren’t.

The trunks are relatively simple to load and unload once they’re packed, but making sure every jersey is in place, every pair of pants folded and every left cleat tied with a double knot has the tendency to cross eyes and form migraines. It could be worse – they could have to work for a living.

“Just being around them, being around coach Elliott and all these guys,” Plowden said. “I played offensive line in high school, and they always tell you those are the guys that don’t really get recognition, but they’re the guys that do a lot of the dirty work.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 8:27 AM with the headline "Equipping the Gamecocks, right down to the last ‘A’."